Benyon’s Fridge

The Telegraph has a story today under the title above. It includes the following from Richard Benyon, Conservative Party MP and Minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

Mr Benyon said many people had little idea how to keep fruit and vegetables fresh in the fridge or that cheese can be preserved for longer if it is wrapped properly after opening.

He urged families to eat their left-overs and pay more attention to the storage instructions on labels to avoid produce going off.

A more frugal approach to food waste would ease the strain on household expenses, he suggested.

And there we have it. In a time when poverty in the UK continues to rise as a consequence of the coalition government policy, with ever more children each day going without decent meals, all a Conservative Minister can give us is that it is down to (a) uneducated poor not knowing anything about how to wrap cheese, and (b), ‘fridge management’?

Do all families and single-person homes have a fridge?

The piece also includes some other gems. For example, not allowing you money to spend – welfare cuts, wage freezes etc – is apparently designed as an aide, to help you through the tough times:

David Cameron and George Osborne have sought to help families through the “tough times” with a number of policies aimed at limiting household expenses.

Thanks David and George, phew, I don’t know how I would pay the bills without you

By all means read the article. It is full of the spurious diverting nonsense that this Ingsoc coalition will, I hope, become infamous for

Finally, I think Mr Benyon should show us some validation for his claims on household food waste, especially by differentiating between the volume of supermarket/commercial waste that goes to landfill, and household food waste. Oh yes, I would also like him to tell me which person of modest means he has met who doesn’t know how to wrap cheese properly

And whilst we’re at it, I believe he should show us that he himself operates effective fridge management and, to show us his comments were not out of touch with reality, give us the following: